GoGreen, our Group-wide environmental protection program, showcases our innovative strength in the area of sustainability. The GoGreen program includes a diverse range of innovative measures that make lasting contributions to improving our carbon efficiencyA ratio index used by Deutsche Post DHL Group to manage the greenhouse gas emissions of its business operations, whereby emissions resulting from fuel and energy consumption are assessed in relation to services rendered (e.g. quantities/volumes of letters, parcels, pallets or containers). and reducing air pollution and noise. In 2016 we achieved our efficiency goal set back in 2008. We have now begun working towards a new long-term aspiration: to reduce all transport-related emissions to net zero by 2050. Based on our 2050 aspiration, we have defined four strategic interim goals to be achieved by the year 2025. These interim goals cover four main aspects: global emissions, local emissions, green solutions and employee engagement.

When considering greenhouse gas emissions, we include not only the direct emissions generated by our own fleet and buildings, but also the indirect emissions from our transportation subcontractors, which account for the largest share of the Group’s overall emissions. The focus areas of our GoGreen program are identified together with our stakeholders and defined in our Group-wide Environmental and Energy Policy; our environmental management system, in turn, ensures implementation of this policy. These focus areas include fuel and energy efficiency, the Group’s environmentally-friendly products as well as raising awareness and training employees in the area of energy and environment.

We consider natural resource consumption and biodiversity to be lower-priority focus areas. Our business activity does not involve intensive use of water or wood, nor does it generate significant waste. Furthermore, our sites and activities do not have a significant impact on biodiversity. Independent of our environmental protection priorities and main action areas, we of course always act in accordance with existing environmental laws and regulations.

Our activities in the area of environmental protection have received top ratings from leading supplier evaluation platforms as well as from the largest and most influential CR rating agencies.

Environmental issues anchored in Group policies

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In addition to our Environmental and Energy Policy, we have also included environmental issues in other key Group policies. This puts us in position to achieve the ambitious goals set by our environmental protection program.

Investment Policy: One of the functions of this policy is to ensure that any new acquisitions are more carbon efficient or environmentally-friendly than existing assets.

Biofuel Policy: This policy prohibits the use of biofuels that negatively impact local food production in the countries where they are produced.

Paper Policy: The Paper Policy requires us to purchase recycled paper whenever certified recycled paper is available on the local market. The full policy is available for download.

Improving fuel and energy efficiency

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Our aspiration is to achieve net zero emissions in our transport operations by the year 2050. This means improving efficiency in the area of transportation and decoupling the link between emissions and transport volumes. Optimizing our routes and modernizing our air and road vehicle fleets are just two of the ways we do this.

Efficiency principle

A comparison of the various modes of transport – including air, road, rail and ocean – reveals that air transport produces the greatest share of both greenhouse gas emissions and the local air pollutant sulfur dioxide (SO2). In the case of road transport, greenhouse gas emissions and particulate matter (PM10) emerge as the most relevant factors. As part of our efforts to reduce local air pollutant emissions, one of our interim goals is to operate 70% of our own first and last mile services with clean pick-up and delivery solutions, including bicycles and e-mobility.

Green products optimize our customers’ environmental performance

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Through our GoGreen Solutions customers benefit from our environmental protection expertise and – in the spirit of Shared ValueWith our shared value approach, our portfolio of environmentally friendly GoGreen products and diverse carbon efficiency measures allows us to follow through on our responsibility to society and the environment while enhancing the success of our business at the same time. – receive valuable support in optimizing the environmental efficiency of their own business processes. More and more customers today request environmentally-friendly transportation services or award their business to providers who have environmental management systems and measures in place.

In line with our vision for net zero transport-related emissions by 2050, we want more than 50% of our sales to incorporate Green Solutions by 2025, making our customers’ supply chains greener.

Turning employees into multipliers

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Our employees play a critical role in realizing our environmental goals, which is why one of our new interim goals focuses on training 80% of our workforce to become certified GoGreen specialists and actively involving them in our environmental and climate protection activities. This includes joining partners to plant one million trees each year as part of our commitment to forest conservation.

Standardized energy and environmental management processes

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We maintain over 12,000 sites worldwide – including office buildings, mail and parcel centers and logistics warehouses, as well as Packstations and drop-off points. Awareness with regard to the environment and climate is integral to all operational processes at our sites. As part of the Group’s own internal environmental management process – the 6-Step Approach – we are engaged in a continuous improvement process, constantly developing and implementing improvement measures to help us achieve our environmental targets. The process steps are based on the ISO 14001 standard.

Of the 10,307 sites suitable for external certification, some 4,990 were certified according to ISO 14001Standard with internationally recognized requirements for environmental management systems covering such things as life cycle assessments, environmental indicators and environmental performance evaluations. in the reporting year. This represents approximately 48% of our sites, eight percentage points fewer than in the previous year. This decrease is attributable to an 11% increase in the number of our sites, which were included in the year’s calculations. An additional effect was our increased focus on the ISO 50001 energy management standard in Europe – in the reporting year we were able to certify 4,975 of our sites according to ISO 50001.